Winemaker Notes
Professional Ratings
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Wine & Spirits
The nine acres of vines at this hillside vineyard in Coombsville were just turning ten years old when Paul Colantuoni harvested the fruit for this 2013. Collinetta is a “little hill” with expositions that face all directions; its shallow loam soils contain a lot of rocks and gravel, without much ability to hold water. That’s one factor that allows the Rocca team to control the vigor of the vines. It’s not surprising to find a wine as delicious as this from relatively young vines, but it is remarkable to find one with so much precision to the flavors and detail in the tannins. The bold, sour-cherry-scented fruit is powered by savory, mica-inflected tannins, glinting with mineral edges of rock, providing stature and verticality to the structure: The flavors seem to rise in the end. Rather than any sense of heat, the wine carries a sense of freshness, a young New World cabernet with an Old World sense of discretion to its significant inner strength. (389 cases)
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James Suckling
Subtle aromas of blackberry, licorice and light tar follow through to a full body, silky tannins and a long, refined finish. Very sexy. Drink or hold.
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Wine Enthusiast
This is an impressively structured and cellar-worthy 100% varietal wine. Juicy, leathery texture suggests what lies in the future, while a luxurious output of chocolate, licorice and black currant hint at additional intrigue and complexity. This wine leaves an impression now, but should take on further balance in the bottle between 2023 and 2033.
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Robert Parker's Wine Advocate
The beautiful 2013 Cabernet Sauvignon Collinetta Vineyard from the Coombsville AVA offers up a dense purple color, plenty of black chocolate, cedar wood, blackberry and cassis. It is full-bodied and has sweet tannin, low acidity and a long finish. The wine is capable of lasting certainly 15-20 years, although it has its accessibility already.
A noble variety bestowed with both power and concentration, Cabernet Sauvignon enjoys success all over the globe, its best examples showing potential to age beautifully for decades. Cabernet Sauvignon flourishes in Bordeaux's Medoc where it is often blended with Merlot and smaller amounts of some combination of Cabernet Franc, Malbecand Petit Verdot. In the Napa Valley, ‘Cab’ is responsible for some of the world’s most prestigious, age-worthy and sought-after “cult” wines. Somm Secret—DNA profiling in 1997 revealed that Cabernet Sauvignon was born from a spontaneous crossing of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc in 17th century southwest France.
Situated in the southeastern corner of Napa Valley in the Vaca range, the vineyards of the Coombsville AVA enjoy a long growing season mitigated by cool, San Pablo Bay fog.